Kechak Performance - Korea Experimental Art Festival 2009

"Circular Sound Circus" presented the interactive project : Indonesian based "Kechak" - a new group project at the Korea Experimental Art Festival 2009 in Hongdae, Seoul.

It was performed at Club 500, Hongdae, Seoul on Sept 13, 2009.
Team members: Ripley Tao (leader) , Penelope Thompson (artistic director), Frank Lev and Lacey Dumler.

Description of performance:
Kechak is based on the traditional Balinese vocal percussion performance, and is sometimes known as the Balinese Monkey Chant. Our team, Circular Sound Circus, attempts to bring groups of people to the rhythm and movements of traditional Indonesian music. An interlocking rhythm, the "Kechak", is easy to learn , energetic, and spiritually motivating.
It is:
> vocal percussion and body percussion.
> group based performance
> audience participation a must

The Korean audience was enthusiastic and picked up the rhythm easily. A big thank you to all the festival staff and the participants who joined the 'monkey tribes' and made the performance a success!

"Bubble, Bubble" performance art by Penelope Thompson, KEAF 2009

“Bubble, bubble” was a brand new site-specific performance work created for the Korea Experimental Art Festival 2009.

On September 12, 2009 audience members had the chance to freely explore the nature of bubbles.






There are many kinds of bubbles that fascinate people - economic bubbles, real estate bubbles, soap bubbles, beer bubbles - but the common nature of bubbles is that they are fragile, temporary and they always burst!


A “bubble” can be an object and can also be a verb:-

“to speak, move, issue forth, or exist in a lively, sparkling manner; to seethe or stir, as with excitement”.

The performance took advantage of the special qualities of a roof top space such as height over the city, spaciousness, open sky and breeze.

The audience members played and interacted with each other with soap bubbles - a simple and universally enjoyable activity.

This art work demonstrated that performance art doesn't always have to be serious - art can be fun. And the act of playing is closely connected with creativity.

Frank Lev, a jazz musician from San Francisco, played light and bubbly saxophone music to set the tone for the event.
Here's a video of the event:

Making World Peace performance and workshop by Penelope Thompson-Incheon Women's Art Biennale, Korea. Aug. 30, 2009

A large crowd of people participated on Sunday, August 30, 2009 in the "Making World peace" community art performance at the Incheon Women's Art Biennale. Thanks to the co-operative efforts of everyone involved we added a record 53 centimeters to the world peace scarf! Here are some photos from the day:

ARTIST'S STATEMENT
“Making World Peace” is an ongoing interactive community art performance (first started in Korea in 2004), where participants can help to create world peace - symbolized as a very long, colorful knitted scarf.

I created this project as a comment on the fact that world governments invest enormous amounts of money into “defence” and warfare, but almost nothing into the creation of peace. Ultimately ‘world peace’ can only come from the small acts of kindness and co-operation between individuals who decide to let go of the old ways of thinking and open their hearts to share freely with all people, regardless of family, racial or national background. I also strongly feel we all need to stop waiting for government funding and permission to create a better world - we can do it with the resources we have right now, through sharing, recycling and co-operation.

The very first performance was in Chilwon Middle School, Gyeongnam province, Korea in December 2004, when the artist was invited to the school as the first-ever foreign visitor and foreign artist. The project aimed to foster co-operation and awareness about the importance of both international and personal relations at a grass roots level. Initially the project was called “World Peace Production Room”, but later on the name was simplified to ‘Making World Peace’.

After the success of first performance, ‘Making World Peace’ appeared as a community art event at various festivals around Korea, including the Gimcheon International Performance Art Festival (KIPAF 2005), the Pocheon Asian Art Festival (PAAF 2005), the Hi Seoul! Hangang Flower Festival 2006, and the Chuncheon International Mime Festival in 2009, to name a few. In July 2009, ‘Making World Peace’ toured to Nagano prefecture Japan, and Japanese people contributed yarn, fabric and knitting skills to make world peace grow in Japan.

The materials for the world peace scarf are mostly recycled materials such as old ribbon, wool, string, plastic or clothing cut up to make yarn, and participants are often invited to donate materials to add to the scarf. The symbolism here is that we all have the resources to make world peace, and almost anything can be used as long as it is flexible enough to be joined together with the rest. This is just like the way in which all the different people and ideas can fit together peacefully in one world if we are willing to be a bit more flexible and join with others!

Since 2004, hundreds of people have tied pieces of yarn together, and knitted to make world peace. Their energy and good wishes are contained within the scarf, and I hope you too will enjoy making world peace grow towards its goal of reaching around the entire world.

Penelope Thompson “Interchange” installation and performance – Matsushiro Contemporary Art Festival (MCAF 2009 ), Nagano, Japan. July 5 – 20, 2009

On July 12, I set up an installation and did an art performance called “Interchange” at the 'Bunbu gakko' (Samurai School for Literary and Military Arts) in the historical village of Matsushiro, located in Nagano prefecture, Japan.

I was taking part in the annual Matsushiro Contemporary Arts Festival (MCAF), which consists of installation, performance art and contemporary dance events presented by artists from various Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Singapore, etc. See website: http://mcaf.jp/index-e.html

The MCAF was started by Japanese art professor Hitoshi Kimura in 2002 (the year of the soccer World Cup collaboration between Japan and Korea). Prof. Kimura wanted to also help to build peaceful relations between the two countries through art, and the reason he chose the beautiful village of Matsushiro as the festival site is because of its surprisingly dark but little known war-time history, involving terrible human rights abuse of hundreds of Korean civilians.

This tragedy happened during the final months of WW II, after the Japanese Imperial government had decided on a plan to construct a massive underground set of tunnels in Matsushiro to secretly house the emperor and the military command. This was part of the nationalistic ideal to fight to the death of every man, woman and child to protect the Japanese empire.

So in November 1944, the construction of the tunnels started under a mountain in Matsushiro.

At that time Korea was under the colonial rule of Japan so many slave labourers (including female sexual slaves, now euphemistically known as “comfort women”) were brought from Korea for this top-secret project. Even the local Japanese people were not aware of what was going on, and they had no choice but to cooperate with the army's requests to surrender their houses and land. Even Japanese school children were made to give up classes to work to assist the war effort.

The Korean slaves were forced to work in appalling conditions and an incredible 13 kilometers of tunnels were dug in just a few short months. Many of the Koreans died from injuries, illness and malnutrition, but the actual identities and numbers of victims is unclear. Their plight was hidden because they had been forced to take Japanese names, and then all records of the tunnel construction were deliberately destroyed by the Japanese army upon their surrender in 1945.

The existence of the Matsushiro tunnels remained a secret until the late 1980's when local high school students discovered them. After learning about the dark history of the tunnels, the students petitioned the local government to preserve them as a public peace memorial so the story could be made known to all people.

Today the tunnels have been partially opened and reinforced so visitors can walk a few hundred meters into the damp darkness and get a sense of the desperate struggle of those war time years.

Nowadays, each July the Matsushiro Contemporary Arts Festival is held not far from the site of the tunnels. All of the foreign artists involved in MCAF are invited to first visit the tunnels to gain first-hand experience and inspiration for their work.

On July 5, 2009 Professor Kimura conducted a public workshop to make origami paper cranes as a symbol of peace, and these works were then painted and then photographed in the tunnels, before being installed in the 'Bunbu gakko' samurai school as part of the MCAF installation festival.

Description of Penelope Thompson's installation "Interchange" :
My installation was entitled 'Interchange' and was inspired by the issues of linguistic imperialism.

Because I have lived in Korea for many years I am very aware that during the time of the Japanese colonisation of Korea, Korean people were forced to learn Japanese language and to adopt Japanese names.

But I was moved very deeply by the realisation that the existence of the suffering and death of hundreds of Koreans in the Matsushiro tunnels had been almost completely obliterated through the use of language.

I chose to install the work on the verandah of the training room of the samurai school, "Bunbu Gakko". The installation consisted of the Japanese characters for “domination” 支配, from which were tied 70 stainless steel Korean chopsticks, individually hanging by red threads.

The stainless steel chopsticks are unique to Korea, and accordingly I chose them to represent the labor of the thousands of Koreans who worked as forced laborers or slaves to build the Matsushiro war-time tunnels. In the center of the chopsticks hung one small inverted stainless steel bowl, symbolizing the suffering of the Korean women who were brought to the tunnel construction site to serve as sexual slaves for the Japanese soldiers.

Although this work was overtly inspired by the Matsushiro war time tunnels, on a deeper level I wanted to express something about the universal spiritual side of the human struggle for liberation. I believe we must all make efforts to cut the ties that bind us to excessive fear and repression and find an authentic voice that can allow us more scope and freedom to build a better world.

I chose the title “Interchange” for the work because it expresses the ideas of communication and exchange, rather than a ‘win-lose‘ battle where one way of thinking simple replaces another without dialogue.






Description of Penelope Thompson's performance, "Interchange":

In this performance, the artist worked with her outdoor installation, entitled "Interchange".

The performance began with the artist walking across the wooden floor of the samurai school training room, singing the old Negro spiritual song "Motherless Child".












On reaching the hanging installation the artist brushed the hanging pieces to hear the soft voices of the metal pieces moving together.
















She then lay on the ground under the steel chopsticks looking up at the Kanji character for "domination" 支配.






Then after a quiet period she arose and scraped the Korean Hangeul characters for “liberation” 자유 with her bare hands into the earth nearby, and then walked away.


Here's a video of the performance and the artist's talk afterwards:


Final Closing Ceremony - July 20, 2009
The installation then hung on the verandah of the samurai school training room for the following week - and visitors could touch the metal chopsticks to make sound.


















On the final day of the MCAF festival, the artist held a symbolic ceremony, and invited the Japanese people to help her release the chopsticks from the red threads.







The Japanese audience members were then given a pair of the Korean stainless steel chopsticks as a symbol of goodwill.











As a final act the artist pulled down the Kanji character for domination.



A warm thank you to Professor Kimura, Ms Kaori Haba, and all the other artists, student volunteers, management and workers of the Matsushiro Samurai school, and audience members who contributed to this special arts festival.

Making World Peace in Japan, July 8, 2009

On July 8, 2009 I travelled to Nagano prefecture in Japan to participate in the Art_plus-jp performance art event at Matsumoto City Art Museum.


This event was organized by well-known Japanese performance artist and performance festival organizer Ms. Kaori Haba, who recently moved to Matsumoto from Nagano City.

Artists from Singapore, Myanmar, Japan and Australia presented various kinds of performance art to a small audience in the evening inside and outside of the art museum.


I presented my ongoing "Making World Peace" community art project that I first started in Korea in 2004.


In this project, world peace is symbolised by a colorful knitted scarf that community members can participate in making.


This was the first time the World Peace scarf project had been performed outside of Korea, and it was very fitting that it should first move to Japan to help heal relations between the two countries.

The Japanese audience members were much more formal and shy about participation than their Korean counterparts!

But through our combined efforts of cutting up a Japanese silk scarf to make yarn, tying the pieces together, and knitting we managed to make 6 centimeters of world peace in a very short time.

A big thank you to all the Matsumoto participants for helping to make world peace!

Making World Peace performance and workshop by Penelope Thompson-Chuncheon International Mime Festival, Korea. May 30, 31 2009

I was invited to perform in the Chuncheon International Mime Festival (CIMF) Experience Program on May 30, 31. On the Saturday we had 2 groups of young Korean schoolchildren to watch my performance and then participate in world peace-themed activities such as coloring world peace pictures and writing wishes for peace.

"Making World Peace" is an ongoing interactive community art performance where world peace is symbolized by a knitted scarf. It started in 2004 as an art experience project for middle school students in the country town of Chilwon in southern Korea. Since then the world peace scarf has slowly grown during many performances in various cities across Korea.

Penelope Thompson -art performances -Jeonju International Film Festival - May 2,3 2009

On May 2 and 3, I was invited to do some art performances in conjunction with the Jeonju International Film festival (JIFF 2009), in the southern city of Jeonju, Korea.

On the Saturday, May 2, there was a street performance art event in front of the main JIFF cinema area with many artists performing, accompanied by 2 Korean musicians playing a grand piano and keyboards.

My performance was a simple improvisation called 'Spring Play' based on 2 red spirals.

I asked a young Korean girl from the audience to "play" with me using the spirals.

We created rhythmical movements and patterns together, as the spirals twirled and danced in the wind.

" The Elements #3"






On Sunday May 3, I did a different kind of performance, along with 3 other artists at the historical site of Gyeongijeon Park in central Jeonju.

My performance was called "The Elements #3", and was based on the idea of working with the 4 traditional elements of air, water, earth and fire.

My performance actions were accompanied by the drumming of American artist/musician Ripley Torres.

First, I collected samples of earth, air and water from the local environment, lit a candle and set up 4 glass cups containing these elements on a table.

I then started by folding a large origami paper box which I inflated with my breath (air).

I mixed the samples of earth and water together to make a natural paint, and painted alchemical symbols for each element on the sides of the paper box.

I completed the elemental quartet by setting fire to the box, which burned to ash as the audience watched.

'Flower Power' performance by Penelope Thompson, VIAF festival, 2009 Yeouido Cherry Blossom festival, Seoul

On April 10 and 11, 2009 I did a street performance entitled "Flower Power" as part of the VIAF festival in Seoul. This was the 'Various Integrative Artistic Festival' held in conjunction with the cherry blossom festival on the island of Yeouido in the Han River in Seoul.

The theme of the festival was "flowers bloom in the sky" referring to the multitudes of cherry blossom trees lining the streets, showering their petals down like pink snow in the breeze.

I chose to create a special new performance for this festival called "Flower Power", as I wanted to give a message to busy city people to slow down and enjoy the beauty of life.

I commenced the performance dressed in a black suit and briefcase, rushing along like a typical Seoulite. However, when I answered my cell phone on-the-run, a colorful paper flower popped out. And when I checked my watch a flower appeared with a message to "slow down!" . Even my glasses case and diary carried similar floral messages, and finally even my laptop computer opened to reveal an entire bouquet of spring flowers.

My wallet seemed to contain only some paper discs which then unfolded to become colorful blooms saying "show your colour" which I stuck on my suit. As I searched in my briefcase I discovered more and more of these paper discs, which I offered to the audience to unfold and read the various messages inside. People then attached these flowers to velcro on my suit and before long I was transformed into a walking floral arrangement, enjoying the spring day to the tune of "Feelin' Groovy".

More photos and video of performance coming soon!

Scrapyard Challenge art project workshop, SangsangMadang, Hongdae Nov 27-29

I took part in the Scrapyard Challenge workshop at SangSangMadang Gallery held in Seoul on November 27, 28 & 29, 2008.

The Scrapyard Challenge Workshops are intensive workshops where participants build simple electronic projects (both digital and analog inputs) out of found or discarded "junk" (old electronics, clothing, furniture, outdated computer equipment, appliances, turntables, monitors, gadgets, etc..)

The MIDI Scrapyard version includes a mini workshop where participants build simple drawing robots or "DrawBots" with small, inexpensive motors, batteries, and drawing markers that can also be connected to Serial or MIDI interface. You can see my 'drawbot' in the photo below:





















I called it a 'cowbot' because it was made out of a plastic milk bottle!
There is a video of the drawbot in action below:


At the end of the day or evening, the workshop participants have a small performance, concert, or fashion show where they demonstrate and present their creations together as a group. No electronics skills or any experience with technology is necessary to participate in the workshops.

I created a musical hat made from an old metal sieve that played different 4 notes as pieces of scrap metal hanging from pipe cleaners bounced on its surface,

and I also made an electronic "castanet" out of an old cell phone.


Here's video of the final performance jam:






These workshops have been run all around the world by New York artists Jonah Brucker Cohen and Katherine Moriwaki. See the website www.scrapyardchallenge.com.

"Here & Now" opening performance, Danwon Arts Center, Ansan

Yesterday, I was invited to do the opening performance for the Korea Contemporary Art 1000 Artists Exhibition, held in the Danwon Arts Center in Ansan City, just south of Seoul.
This performance was called "Here & Now " and was a symbolic tea ceremony to celebrate the passion and creativity of the 1000 artists who joined together for this exhibition.


The artist rolls a circular black table symbolizing "now" until it intersects with a square black box symbolizing "here".




At the meeting point of "here and now", the artist inscribes these words in Korean and English and then begins to set up the table to perform a ritual tea ceremony.



A square black silk cloth is laid under the round table, and a square gold teatray,and jars of various spices are laid out.



The artist creates a multicultural and fragrant blend of tea and five different spices that are labelled (in Korean and English) as "courage", "passion", "persistence", "self-belief" and "audacity".

These spices represent some of the qualities that artists need to continue to create uplifting and inspiring art in a world that is all too often focused on destructive and materialistic endeavours.

The teapot is marked with an infinity sign, symbolizing the infinite power of human creativity and the infinite power of the "now" moment.


Thus the tea is called "infinitea", and the audience members are all invited to drink the tea to share in the special energy of the creative "now" moment.
You can see a video below:

Portrait of foreign artist in Korea, 2007 - performance and installation by Penelope Thompson

On Tuesday, December 11, I presented the opening performance for an international group exhibition in Ulsan, Korea.
The group is called I.C.C. - International Creative Community - founded in 2006 by Australian artist Lainie Cooper and Korean artist Kim Chang han. I joined the group a few months ago, as I had not been involved in the Ulsan arts scene previously and I liked the strong Aussie connection.

The title for the exhibition is 'Impressions from Afar - A Visitor's Perspective', and it will continue at the Bukgu Culture & Arts Center, in Ulsan until December 20, 2007. All the contributing artists were asked to create artworks based on their impressions of a foreign country, so the Korean artists exhibited works based on their overseas travels to countries such as India , Australia or Africa, and the foreign artists created works based on their experiences in Korea. Some Australian ICC member artists sent over work based on their cultural exchange trip to Korea in June 2007.



For this exhibition I decided to prepare an installation and performance similar to my very first art performance in Korea (Portrait of a foreign artist in Korea') that I did in Sungsan Art Hall, Changwon in February 2004. Click here to see 2004 performance .

The reason I chose to revisit this theme is simple - being an artist for a foreigner like me in Korea is still technically illegal under immigration law. It's a Catch 22 situation - there are no visas available for self-funded artists to stay in Korea, (only short 6 month Arts & Entertainment visas for entertainers sponsored by large companies), so to live here and experience Korean culture and make art, I have to remain an English teacher, but on an E2 teaching visa I am actually not allowed to partcipate in any other activities, even as a volunteer!

There was big kerfuffle last year when some Busan teachers put on a play for the foreign community and were subsequently raided by the police, arrested, and threatened with deportation. So it came as a shock for me to realise that three and a half years after my initial artwork on this theme, as a foreign artist I am still dealing with the same immigration status issue, long working hours as an English teacher, less than ideal living conditions, and little time to make art. Although I worked very hard to secure a higher level university teaching job that promised short hours and long vacations, those conditions failed to materialise.... It seems like it's time for a new plan of action.

In my performance, I begin zipped up inside a large suitcase and emerge to the ringing of an alarm clock. I hang the clock on the wall in a prominent position.
Then, I pull out a painting from the suitcase of an Australian native bird that I painted in Australia several years ago, and brought with me when I came to Korea. This painting shows the bird extending its wings while its feet are still firmly on a branch of a dead tree.

I contemplate the painting, open a new sketchbook, and sharpen a pencil.



But a quick glance at the clock shows me it is time to prepare for my teaching job. So I put on my white shirt and formal black suit, covering up my comfortable colorful clothes, then zip up some hard black boots and proceed to teach an English lesson to the audience.



I pull out a whiteboard marker and draw an equals sign next to the clock on the wall.



I ask the "class" to guess which common English expression regarding time I am trying to demonstrate. When I stick a 10,000 won note after the = sign the message is clear - "time is money". I ask the class to practice the saying with great enthusiasm, and then my English class is over.

Returning to the suitcase, I remove my teaching costume and begin to place the clothing very carefully on the hanger, arranging it so it looks like a person might still be inside. I take the whiteboard marker and quickly sketch a self-portait of my face in the sketch book. I tape this picture to the coathanger holding the suit of clothes, and arrange the boots so they stand to attention underneath the hanging skirt.
The final touch is to add lipstick to my self- portrait.

Then with more energy, I unwrap a new large paintbrush and a tub of red paint and paint a thick line through the "time is money" - blotting out the clock, the = , and even the 10,000 won note.
I write graffiti in large red letters on the wall - ART IS LIFE!.

Finally, smiling, and with brush and paint in hand I leave the scene of the crime!

Here's the video of the performance:



Note for those in Korea:
You can see the exhibition (free entry) at Bukgu Culture & Arts Center Gallery, 1010 Saneopro, Bukgu, Ulsan until Dec. 20. Gallery enquiries Tel: 052-219-7400
Membership of I.C.C. is open to any emerging or established artists of any nationality who are interested in cultural exchange. Please contact Kim Chang Han: Tel: 018-591-3338

The Elements#2 - Goryeong International Performance Art Festival 2007

I was invited to the Goryeong International performance Art Festival in central Korea for the second time on October 20, 2007.There were several performance artists from countries including Japan, Australia, and Korea.

My performance title was "The Elements#2" - in which I made art using only the four elements of fire, earth, water and air.
This was a site specific performance and my performance area was a lovely stone sculpture set in the garden of the Goryeong Artists' Village.


At first I set up 4 glass cups, and added to each cup one of the elements - some rainwater, a burning candle, some air, and some earth from the surrounding garden.


I then proceeded to make an origami box from a large piece of paper.





When my paper-folding was complete I inflated the paper box with my breath (air).




I then mixed the earth and water together to make a painting medium.











With a calligraphy brush I painted ancient alchemical designs representing each of the 4 elements on the sides of the box.

These traditional symbols are based on the form of the triangle - a point-up triangle for fire, point-down for water etc.





To end the performance, I took fire from the candle flame and burned the box to ashes, and doused the smouldering remains with water - thus completing my use of the elemental quartet.





You can watch a 5 minute video below:

Goyang International Sculpture Symposium, Korea - 'The Beauty Myth', opening performance

On October 2, I was invited as a foreign artist to make an opening performance for the 3rd Annual Goyang International Sculpture symposium. Goyang is located in the north-western part of Korea, close to the border with North Korea. The city is newly affluent and has set out to provide a special focus on culture and arts for its citizens, including an enormous and beautiful lakeside sculpture park. This sculpture symposium invited many renowned Korean and international sculptors, who spent 2 weeks creating large permanent sculpture works for the lakeside park.

I chose to perform 'The Beauty Myth' again here because of the 'body as sculpture' aspects of this performance art piece. This performance was similar to previous performances of 'The Beauty Myth' , except for a new ending. I had been researching images of the goddess in different cultures and I had been intrigued by Kali, the dark-skinned Indian goddess of power, life and death.


The ferocious energy of Kali seemed to be the perfect counter-balance to the passive stillness of the white-robed statue woman in the first part of the performance. So when the woman tires of performing as the "beautiful object" and goes within,
she gathers all her repressed energy and emerges as a wild, black-clad, empowered woman. She wields a knife in one hand and the blonde hairpiece like a severed head in the other. This symbolizes killing off the old self, and cutting the ties that bind her to the old ways.


To end the performance she silences the ringing alarm clock with a single thrust of the knife, to show that she has conquered time.

Chungju International Performance Art Festival, Korea

On Wednesday, September 12, I travelled to Chungju City to take part in the Chungju International Performance Art Festival.

The venue was a traditional old Korean building and there were many schoolchildren in attendance as there was also an art competition for the students to paint or draw the performance artists.

My performance was 'The Beauty Myth', which I had previously performed in 2005 at the Seoul Experimental Art Festival. This performance shows an image of a woman passively waiting to be rewarded for conforming to society's ideal of beauty.


Her style combines elements from classical sculpture of female form, the traditional white wedding dress and modern fashion magazine ideals of beauty.

She is watched by a man who gives her gifts of balloons, which she blows up but which burst or fly away. In this way the artist is questioning the real value of rewards received by women for conforming to the ideals of the “Beauty Myth”.

Finally, the woman chooses to emerge from her restrictive costume, and the performance of 'The Beauty Myth' is over.












After the performance the schoolchildren pulled out their sketchpads and paints.

There were hundreds of children painting or drawing their favorite performance artists for the art competition.You can watch a short video of the children painting here:



The "lady in the white dress" was a popular subject!

'Treasure' an artists' book by Penelope Thompson

I recently finished an 'artists' book' for an exhibition in Australia - the annual BOOKS.07 'works of imagination' invitation exhibition held at the Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland, Australia. The theme for this year's exhibition was "the search for the impossible".

I chose to explore the universal human search for treasure and I created a small treasure chest with many compartments. Inside the compartments I placed different objects such as coins, maps, pearls inscribed with text and these became the "pages" of my book.


My artwork may not resemble a book at first glance, but when we consider the dictionary definition of a book is "a collection of pages, bound or unbound, contained within a cover so as to form a material whole" it is most certainly an artists' book (which may sometimes be called a bookwork).
The title of the work is simply treasure 'Treasure' and it is intended to be handled as an interactive artwork that progressively reveals its meaning to the viewer.
The first level consists of an antique world map with the "X" marking the spot of treasure - on a mirror, so the viewer will see a self-reflection within the treasure map.

The second level contains gold coins, each inscribed with a word. Together these coins spell out the proverb "all that glitters is not gold".


There is also a small folded parchment - which includes the words "seek and ye shall find".






Then, upon opening the third level - the viewer will discover a string of pearls each bearing a subtly marked word; "Be", "here", and "now" repeating in order over and over again - like prayer beads.




You can see a short video of the "Treasure" chest being opened and closed below.
Treasure - an artists' book by Penelope Thompson

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"Lake of Dreams" performance - 'Right time' Performance Art Festival, Goryeong, Korea

On June 16 I was invited to Goryeong in central Korea to do an outdoor performance. This new performance was entitled 'Lake of Dreams'.

I commenced by walking across the grassy space dragging a black box tied to me with a hemp rope. Jangling temple bells hung from my shoulder and I played a single breathy note on a flute.




With ritual-like movements I set up a traditional Korean table and placed various small, symbolic objects on the table top.
I folded a Korean 1000 won note into an origami paper boat and then poured water until the table top became like a miniature lake, with the objects submerged and the money boat floating.

Three rounded stones were stacked in the center of the 'lake' like an island or a traditional Korean Buddhist stone cairn.







I played a single note on the flute, making the wind from the instrument cause the boat to sail around the lake.




Finally, I walked away playing a melody -
leaving the box and the objects in the lake behind me.

ONE ART STREET - "Here & Now" performance by Penelope Thompson

Today I did a performance for the opening of the ONE ART STREET exhibition at the Baeksan Memorial Hall in Jungangdong, Busan.This was a mixed exhibition from both local Korean and foreign artists - including photography, sculpture, painting, performance etc. - on show until Dec 28, 2006.

The area around the exhibition site was historically the real hub of art activities in Busan. It was known in earlier days as 'Art Street' and local artists want to see it happening again, to counteract the big shift of artistic happenings to the wealthy Haeundae area. My performance was called "Here & Now (TEAROOM no. 1)" and was a symbolic ceremony to celebrate the rebirth of the art scene in the area.

My performance was also a reaction to the Busan Biennale which finished recently, with the theme of art "everywhere" and CAFE (contemporary art for everyone). I wanted to show art as being "here & now" made by local artists and accessible to local people - and in the format of a traditional Korean tearoom, not a westernised notion of a cafe.

In the performance the artist rolled a circular black table (symbolizing "now") until it intersected with a square black box (symbolizing "here").

At the meeting point of "here and now", the artist performed a symbolic , ritual tea ceremony - concocting a multicultural and fragrant blend of tea and spices.

The spices were labelled (in Korean and English) as "courage","passion", "persistence', "self-belief" and "patience" -representing the qualities that artists need to make art. This was also relevant to the exhibition venue being the Memorial Hall for the Busan citizens' resistance against the Japanese colonial forces during the first part of the 20th century.

The tea was prepared in a teapot marked with an infinity sign, symbolizing the infinite power of human creativity and the infinite power of the "now" moment. The tea was called "infinitea".The audience members were all invited to drink some "infinitea" and thus share in the special energy of the moment.
Watch a short video of the performance:
Here & Now- TEAROOM No1- performance art by Penelope Thompson

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Sori WOMAD festival 2006

In September, I was invited to perform at the Sori Fringe Festival in Jeonju, Korea. This is an annual festival of "sound" focusing on Korean traditional musical forms, held at the very large Sori Arts centre complex. This year it was combined with the famous international world music festival WOMAD , for a really international flavour.





There were artists from many other countries including Africa, India, China, Japan etc. It was rare opportunity to hear top class African music in Korea, but very few foreigners seemed to find their way there.


The festival ran for 10 days and featured some top artists from Australia such as Archy Roach and Ruby Hunter (who I unfortunately missed seeing as I was scheduled for the following weekend!)


My performance was called "The Great Australian Tea Ceremony" - an Australian cultural performance with Aussie songs and stories while the billy boiled. MBC TV filmed the whole of the first performance so I guess I was on Korean TV sometime!



I played "Waltzing Matilda" on the harmonica, and through a translator explained the story of the song.





Then I played a variety of Australian folk songs, including an Aboriginal song accompanied by clapsticks, and "Tie me kangaroo down sport", and especially for the children - "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree"!

The audience was made up of mostly families and children so they enjoyed getting to try the Australian "billy" tea, which is black tea and different from the Korean green tea they usually drink. We had to make do with inported McVitie's Digestive biscuits with the tea this time. Next time I'll have to make some "Anzac biscuits" (that's if I can buy oatmeal in Korea!)

BFAA International Video, Installation and Performance exhibition

This was the 3rd time I had participated in Busan Fine Arts Association's annual international exhibition.
This year it was held in the Gallery space of Busan Citizen's Hall in Beomildong.


There were works by artists from Korea, Japan, Australia, and France, including installation, video and performance.









I showed my "Book of Bright Ideas" installation before it went off to Australia for another exhibition at the Noosa Regional Gallery.



It was made from a hard cover book, with a string of pulsating electric lights inserted between the hollowed out pages.

You can see a video of my "Book of Bright Ideas" in July's blog entry and a full description.

Goryeong International Performance Art Festival

Goryeong International Performance Art Festival was held on August 12 & 13, 2006 at a disused elementary school in the small town of Goryeong, west of Daegu. In Korea many small country schools have closed due to the shrinking population and the trend towards urban living. The Korean government has allocated funds for the schools to be turned into community art centres or villages.


The festival included invited artists from four contries - Korea, Japan, Spain and Australia.The styles of performance were diverse. Some of the other artists are shown below:
Yasuo Fukurozaka, Japan
Shim, Hongjae, Korea
Yun, Myeong guk, Korea
Valentin Torrens, Spain


My performance was called "The Elements",
referring to fire, water, earth and air.

I commenced by laying out sheets of calligraphy paper
on the grass beneath an old pine tree.
I then performed actions to connect with the elements -
filling a bowl with water and aerated it with my breath,
digging the earth, and lighting a candle.







I painted designs on the paper with the water

relating to the 4 elements.

I set fire to the paper which burned away ,

leaving only the wet elemental designs on the grass.

Finally, I blew out the candle

and poured the water over my body.



Below is a video of my performance "The Elements":

Jejudo Installation Art Festival (JIAF) 2006

I was invited to take part in the annual Jeju Island
International Installation Art Festival which opened on August 5, 2006. The site for the festival was a public park located in the sports stadium complex in Jeju City.





I made 2 installations for the festival, both using trees in the park as support.





The first installation
is called"Raintrees",



and the second is "Dreamweaver".





The materials used for "Dreamweaver" were sticky tape and plastic foodwrap, plus a few fallen leaves and a birdsnest I found on the grass beneath the trees. I wanted to make a really ephemeral looking piece to express the idea of images in the mind's eye.


In effect I was drawing or weaving with the plastic wrap on a background of sticky tape, and the shadows made by the afternoon sun added a third dimension to the work.



"Images constantly flow and change - a bird, a cloud, the wind, a fish are all connected. Dreams and reality are all the same in the mind's eye."







In "Raintrees" -



I wanted to express the feeling



of the heavy, cool raindrops


of the summer monsoon season.



Materials: Plastic, air and water

Illusions -performance by Penelope Thompson at Madangkuk Festival, Mokpo, Korea

I was invited to Mokpo City, Jeolla province Korea, to take part in the Madangkuk Top Festival 2006, which is an annual festival of traditional Korean outdoor performance and music.

I was asked to do 2 performances - firstly, The Great Australian Tea Ceremony (see my earlier blogs for more photos and videos of previous performance) as part of the opening ceremony for the festival.

On the second night I performed a new piece called 'Illusions', which developed out of my earlier performance called "In & Out" at the JIPAF Festival in April 2006.

In this performance I wanted to express ideas about the modern industrialised way of life, which is based on the illusory concepts of separateness - from each other, and from nature.

The performance space was outdoors under the trees and I was again dressed in business-like attire with briefcase.
I used a roll of plastic cling wrap to create a separate, sterile space for myself between two trees.




Then, after a while,



like a spider caught in it's own web,



I struggled to be free of the restrictions of my own making, throwing away the contents of my briefcase and casting off my shoes so I could touch the earth.

Interestingly, the Korean children were only too happy to acquire the very things I was casting off, or even try to return them to me!

You can watch a short video of the performance here:

The Book of Bright Ideas - installation

I just finished this work today. It is an 'artist's book' made for an annual exhibition of such books at the Noosa Gallery, Queensland, Australia.
The theme for this years exhibition is "10 + beyond", in reference to this year being the 10th anniversary of the artist's books exhibition.

So my book is called:
'The Book of Bright Ideas'
and this is an explanation of its inspiration:

"About 10 years ago when I was living in Adelaide, South Australia, I had a sudden vision of the swirling energy patterns of unmanifested ideas and forms beyond the blank pages of a notebook. Nowadays I live in Korea, and this book is my memory of that special experience".




The book is constructed out of a hardback book, and a string of 120 electric 'fairy' lights.



It was a big job to carefully glue 241 pages together and then install lights in cavities I cut out between the pages. (Especially when I was trying to get the glue to dry in the middle of the monsoon season!)


I wanted to express the idea of the spiritual inspiration and energy behind all creative work.

JIPAF 2006 Performance "In & Out"

This performance was for the 2006 Jeonju International Performance Art Festival. The festival had a theme of "In & Out" which was explained as:-
"What does space mean?

We have closed space and open space

so then what is the basis of closed and open

and also what is the basis of closed space and open space?

We sometimes have a stereotype as "inside=closed, outside=opened"

Our ideas and actions may stem from this basis. However, there is no right definition of "in" and "out" in the power of arts.

How we can show the ideas about in and out through performance?"

In this performance the artist expresses ideas about the modern industrialised way of life, which is based on the illusory concepts of separation, restriction, and the value of private property and individual identity.


The artist is dressed in a black formal business suit with a briefcase. She removes small Ziploc plastic bags one by one from the briefcase and inflates one with each breath and seals it.
The inflated bags are progressively stacked up in an orderly pile on a table. Some slip off the table, and some blow away with the wind – this activity is ultimately meaningless and futile.

The artist then stops her production activity and bursts some of the bags.



She then removes some of her restrictive clothing and walks barefoot in the wet earth, drawing curved lines with her feet.



She then sings a song “Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child” - a song originally sung by Negro slaves in America to express their separation and isolation.




The venue for this performance was a historical complex of traditional Korean buildings, called "Gaeksa", located in the centre of downtown Jeonju. Originally, the Gaeksa was built to house visiting government officials, and included a meeting hall as well as accommodation.

World Peace Production Workshop - ongoing series of workshops/performances by Penelope Thompson

Penny’s World Peace Production Workshop
by Penelope Thompson, Australia










Theme: we can all contribute to making world peace.










Watch a video of 2 of the performances here:




In this workshop, world peace is symbolized as a very long, colorful knitted scarf. A scarf is something that makes the wearer feel safe, and warm and cosy. The world peace scarf will be finished when it is long enough to reach around the entire world – a distance of 40,076 kilometers!


The short, varied pieces of yarn or wool represent the different people and ideas in the world that need to be first joined together. Anything that is strong enough and flexible enough can be used for knitting.

Knitting represents the creative skills needed to weave together all the different strands to make a functional garment. It is a traditional women’s skill – time consuming, repetitive, creative, and done by hand with love.








Description of ‘Penny’s World Peace Production Workshop’ :
The Story:

In an imaginary world, the Department of World Peace is very short-staffed. One woman alone has been assigned the urgent job of making world peace.

However she finds that instead of one long ball of wool to knit with, she only has a big bag of short pieces of wool and string and ribbon, in all different colors and styles.



So it is very difficult for her to complete her task because the world peace scarf is very long – it will only be finished when it reaches around the entire world.





Because the job of making world peace is so urgent, the woman asks all the people around her to help.

She hands out the short pieces of yarn and asks that people co-operate and join their different pieces together to make one long piece of yarn that she can knit with.

She asks them to join their pieces very strongly, so that world peace will not fall apart later.

So some people join together the pieces of yarn, some people test the strength of the joins, and other people roll up the yarn into a ball.




Even with this help, the woman knows that her work alone making world peace will be too slow.

So she teaches others the woman’s skill of knitting, so that everyone can help to make lasting world peace.

The World Peace Production Workshop project is an original idea created by the Australian artist, Penelope Thompson. It first started in Chilwon Middle School, Gyeongnam province, Korea on December 14, 2004.

The world peace scarf has since travelled many times around Korea to cities such as Busan, Ansan, Gimcheon, Pocheon and Seoul, and it is getting longer all the time. It is an ongoing project, so if you would like to be a World peace maker or have the World Peace Production Workshop visit your school or festival please email me by CLICKING HERE

Artist's CV 2006 - Penelope Thompson

Family name: THOMPSON
Given name: PENELOPE
Date of Birth : 1964 / 05 / 13
Nationality : Australian
Gender : Female
Address : Seoul City, KOREA
Email : thompson_penny (AT) yahoo (dot) co (dot) uk

Education
1983/84 R.C.A.E., Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia. Studies in Diploma of Visual Arts
1987 Adelaide T.A.F.E., South Australia. Certificate of Theatre Arts
1990 G.C.I.T. , Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Certificate of Instructional Skills (teaching)
1994 Noarlunga T.A.F.E., South Australia. Certificate of Contemporary Music
1997- 1999 University of the Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia. Bachelor of Visual Art & Design
2005-2008 - University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Masters Degree of Education.

Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
1998 MCU, Maleny, Queensland, Australia. Solo exhibition paintings and photography.

Selected Recent Group Exhibitions

2004 Feb. ‘Reflective Light’ International Artist’s group exhibition (Opening performance and installation - ‘Portrait of a foreigner in Korea’), Sungsan Art Hall, Changwon, Korea.
2004 May ‘The Beautiful Changwon Tree’ community installation and performance, Sungsan Art Hall, Changwon, Korea.
2004 July. “IDEAL” international group exhibition (Opening performance and installation - ‘Anonymous White Woman’) Okubo Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan
2004 September “International Image” exhibition, BFAA, (Installation ‘Anonymous white woman’) Busan City Hall Gallery, Busan, Korea
2005 May “Transition” Boomerang International Artists group exhibition (installation – ‘Made in Korea’),
In Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2005 Aug. “Black Hole” Boomerang International Artists (video installation) Ginza Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
2005 Dec. KEAF, (video installation) Club Tool, Seoul, Korea.
2006 Jan. “Images of Korean Women” (video installation), Regional Gallery, Grand Forks, BC, Canada.
2006 March “Canadian Survival Apron” installation, Provincial Spirit International exhibition, Grand Forks Regional Gallery, B.C., Canada
2006 May "Canadian Survival Apron" installation, Tinhorn Creek Estate Art Exhibition, Oliver, B.C. Canada.
2006 May "Canadian Survival Apron" installation, ArtsWells festival, Wells, B.C. Canada.
2006, August "Raintrees" & "Dreamweaver" installations, Jeju Installation Art Festival, Jeju Island, Korea.
2006, August "Book of Bright Ideas" installation, Books 06, Noosa Regional Gallery, Queensland, Australia.
2006 September "Book of Bright Ideas" installation, Busan Fine Arts Association, Citizens Hall, Beomildong, Busan, Korea.
2007 June "Canadian Survival Apron" installation, Eumundi Food Festival, Queensland, Australia.
2008 - April "Canadian survival apron" installation, Upfront Aprons exhibition, Maleny, Qld, Australia.

Recent Performances

2004 – Feb. ‘Portrait of a foreigner in Korea’, Reflective Light, Sungsan Art Hall, Changwon, Korea.
2004 – April. “Beautiful Changwon Tree”, Sungsan Art Hall, Changwon, Korea.
2004 - July. ‘Anonymous White Woman’, opening of “IDEAL”, Okubo Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan.
2004 July ‘Anonymous White Woman’, BIPAF, Hyundai Theatre, Bucheon, Korea.
2004 August “Return of the Sea Goddess”, Busan Sea Festival, Gwangali Beach, Busan, Korea.
2004 August ‘Anonymous White Woman’ KIPAF, Jikjisa Culture Park, Gimcheon, Korea.
2004 August ‘Anonymous white woman’, Samcheonpo International Open Air Arts Festival, Sacheon, Korea.
2004 August ‘Anonymous white woman’, JUMF, Juan Station, Incheon, Korea.
2004 Dec “Making world peace”, Chilwon Middle school, Chilwon, Korea

2005 Jan ‘Strands of Life’, Wayguks –the art of foreigners, Naewoedong Cultural Centre, Gimhae, Korea
2005 Jan ‘Strands of Life’, Boomerang International Group, Montmartre Gallery, Haeundae, Busan, Korea.
2005 July “Making World peace”, BFAA International Festival, Eulsukdo Cultural Center, Busan, Korea.
2005 July “The Beauty Myth”, BIPAF, Bucheon Station Shopping Mall, Bucheon, Korea.
2005 August ‘Making world peace’, Dalmaji Philosophy Festival, Dalmaji Park, Busan, Korea
2005 August “Making World peace”, DIPAF, Yeolrin Art Hall, Ansan, Korea.
2005 Sept “World Peace Production Room”, PAAF 2005 Banweol Art Hall, Pocheon, Korea.
2005 Oct “Great Australian Tea Ceremony” Arirang World Festival, Jeongsong, Korea
2005 Oct “Fly Away” Wangsan Performing Arts Festival, Gangneung, Korea.
2005 Dec. “The Beauty Myth” K.E.A.F., Club SAAB, Seoul, Korea.

2006 March “The Canadian Survival Apron” performance, Grand Forks Regional Gallery, B.C., Canada
2006 March “Enlightenment” performance, opening of ‘Move on Asia – Clash & Network’, LOOP Alternative Space, Hongdae, Seoul, Korea.
2006 April “In & Out” and “Enlightenment”, Jeonju International Performance Art Festival (JIPAF 2006), Gaeksa and Wansan Cultural Center, Jeonju.
2006 April “Penny’s World Peace Production Workshop” full day community art event, Hangang Flower Festival, Seoul.
2006 July "The Great Australian Tea Ceremony" & "Illusions" Mokpo Madangkuk Festival 2006, Jeolla province, Korea.
2006 August "The Elements" Goryeong International Performance Art Festival, Goryeong, Gyeongsangbukdo, Korea.
2006 December "Here & Now", opening performance for 'One Art Street' International Art Festival, Busan, Korea.

2007, June "Lake of Dreams" performance for 'Right time' performance festival, Goryeong Arts Village, Korea.
2007 - Sept. "The Beauty Myth #3", Chungju International Performance Art Festival, Chungju City, Korea.
2007 - Oct. "The Beauty Myth #4", opening performance for Goyang International Open Air Sculpture Symposium, Goyang City, Korea.
2007- Oct. "The Elements #2" Goryeong International Performance Art Festival, Goryeong, Korea.
2007 – Dec “Portrait of a foreign artist in Korea, 2007” opening performance, I.C.C. international exhibition, Bukgu Culture & Arts Center, Ulsan, Korea.

2008 - Oct. "Here and Now" opening performance for Korea Contemporary Art '1000 artists' exhibition, Danwon Arts Center, Ansan, Korea.

Other Arts Activities:
1996 -1999 Artist for Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Centre, Eudlo, Queensland, Australia.
1999 Assistant artist Asia Pacific Triennial (AP3), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia.
1998 - 2000 Creative arts workshop facilitator, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.
1998 – 2000 Musician, composer and arranger in folk and world music styles, Queensland.
1998 – 2000 Singing teacher and workshop facilitator – Maleny, Queensland, Australia
2000 Arts worker, Woodford Festival Visual arts section, Woodford, Queensland, Australia.
2004 Performance art project advisor, Dongju College, Busan, Korea.
2005 Interviewed by Arirang TV, on “Heart to Heart” Dec 20, 2005, Seoul, Korea.
2007 to 2008 - Arts columnist for Korea Herald national newspaper, Seoul, Korea.

Enlightenment performance by Penelope Thompson

enlightenment:
1 : the act or means of enlightening : the state of being enlightened

to enlighten :
1 archaic : ILLUMINATE (1) : to supply or brighten with light
2 a : to furnish knowledge to : INSTRUCT b : to give spiritual insight to

This interactive performance uses a string of pulsing electric lights to symbolise the light energy or life force that connects every being.
In a completely darkened room, the artist creates a special space for the audience to experience “enlightenment”.
At the beginning of the performance a large pulsating light ball slowly emerges to become first a pentacle and then a giant spiral, laid out on the floor. The audience members are then invited to experience interaction with the lights.

enlightenment



This performance was in March 2006 at LOOP Alternative Space, Hongdae, Seoul, for the opening of the Move on Asia - Clash & Network Media exhibition.

The Canadian Survival Apron by Penelope Thompson

This is an art project I contributed to an international touring exhibition of artwork based on aprons - called the "Provincial Spirit Apron Exhibition".
I made the apron as a humorous response to my first experience of challenges of the "wilds" of British Columbia, Canada in February 2006.

The apron includes everything one would need to survive a Canadian winter - including fishing tackle, a hunting knife, a bottle of brandy and of course, the stash tin and matches!


I couldn't resist doing a little performance wearing the apron in the gallery.
See the video below. It may take a little while to download.

The Canadian Survival apron

The Beauty Myth performance, Korea Experimental Art Festival (KEAF 2005), Seoul, Dec 2005 - by Penelope Thompson

BACKGROUND TO BEAUTY MYTH PERFORMANCE:
The "Beauty Myth" performance developed out of my earlier work on the themes of women's body image and dis/empowerment.

The images from one of my previous performances of "Anonymous White Woman" were chosen for the posters for the KEAF festival in Seoul this year. The image used on the main KEAF poster was from the final part of the A.W.W. performance, where the anonymous white woman is experiencing bitter disappointment with her mortality.

In 2005 I chose to stop performing A.W.W. mainly because the preparation time was so lengthy – at least 2 hours for the preliminary body painting. But also, I wanted to make a performance that had a more positive ending for women. I developed the “Beauty Myth” which is about women’s lives being restricted by the societal expectations on them to “perform” as the beautiful object. In this performance the woman wears a dress which enhances her female shape but severely restricts her movements. In, fact like a classical Greek or Italian sculpture she is planted on the floor and only has one arm!

I first performed this at the Bucheon International Performance art Festival in July 2005, and at the end of the performance I escaped from the costume and ran at full speed through the shopping center. See video below:



This was meant to illustrate a woman expressing her power (how many times has anyone seen an adult woman running by choice at full speed anywhere?).
However, I felt the audience misinterpreted this action as the woman running away due to fear because she was no longer young and beautiful.



So for the KEAF festival I changed the ending so the woman stays put and achieves fulfilment within herself. I also wanted to make the performance more site-specific for the nightclub venue – the theme of the KEAF festival was “emptiness and fulfilment” in the space provided. Each artist was asked to use the particular space provided as an integral part of their performance.
So I made a psychedelic colourful video for projection onto my body and an accompanying soundtrack with plenty of bass. I used the spiritual theme with the Sanskrit Om symbol because I wanted to subvert the usual way that women are looked upon in nightclubs as sexual objects.

The Great Australian Tea Ceremony performance by Penelope Thompson

G'day Mate!













This was an Australian cultural performance at the Jeongseon Arirang World Festival, Korea in October 2005.



I wanted to show Korean people the Aussie way of making bush tea.

While the billy boiled I played Australian folk songs - of course there was "Waltzing Matilda" on the harmonica!









The Korean people usually only drink green tea so it was an unusual treat for them to to try black, Western style tea.I made sure I served some Aussie style biscuits too.





All the billy tea was drunk and enjoyed, right down to the last drop!
















You can watch a 5 minute video of the performance below. It may take a little while to download.
The Great Australian Tea Ceremony

The Return of the Sea Goddess

This performance was about marine environmental awareness.
It was performed on beachfronts in Busan, Korea in the summer of 2004, including the Busan Sea Festival at Gwanganli Beach.











In the performance the artist embodies a modern update of the archetypal Sea Goddess. However her basket of bountiful gifts from the sea, has become a collection of plastic litter, cigarette butts and dead fish, thanks to the thoughtless consumerism of modern urban citizens.


The sea goddess walks around the beachfront offering her bounty to passersby.







The performance required up to 5 hours of body painting, which was carried out by the staff and students of the Beauty Department at Dongju College, Busan.

Performance Art by Penelope Thompson - The Beautiful Changwon Tree

In April 2004, I was invited to set up an installation and performance for the Beautiful Changwon Festival in Sungsan Art Hall.
After pondering on how I could express the beauty of a Korean city such as Changwon, ( a modern, planned city in the southern part of Korea, set up to house provincial government departments) I concluded that the true beauty of a city lies in the hearts of the people who live there. After all what is a city without people? - just a bunch of concrete buildings and roads. Seeing as the exhibition would be held in springtime and the the beginning of the cherry blossom season, my idea was to create a kind of wishing tree.

I found a large section of bare cherry tree that had been pruned off in the winter. I then set about making paper leaves and flowers which could be tied onto the bare branches. I wanted people to be able to write messages on them about what they could do to make the world a more beautiful place. It took me a long time to cut hundreds of leaves , punch holes in them, and attach twist ties to every one.

Finally the bare tree was moved from my studio space in Busan to the Sungsan Art Hall in Changwon (about a 2 hour drive). I was lucky enough to find a student with a van just big enough to fit the tree!
The tree was installed in the foyer of the Art Hall and a ceremony was conducted to start the event. I had a Korean friend translate my words. When the public were invited to write their "beautiful" messages and add them to the tree, the response was overwhelming. I nearly got trampled in the rush!

People of all ages took part in this community event which remained installed in the Art Hall for 10 days during the community art exhibition. By the end of the period the tree had come to life, with literally hundreds of leaves and flowers all bearing positive messages.

Performance art by Penelope Thompson "Portrait of a foreign artist in Korea" Feb 2004

This was my first performance/installation in Korea, at the Sungsan Art Hall, Changwon. I was invited by a group of artists calling themselves 'Reflective Light' to do the opening performance for the exhibition. I chose to do a performance that reflected exactly where I was at in my life in Korea at that point in time - ie. an artist unhappily employed as an English teacher at a very repressive university! Hence the title - "Portrait of a foreign artist in Korea".

The installation consisted of two sides of a room - one side containing objects symbolising my creative life - colorful clothes, musical instruments, paints, brushes, sketchbooks, notebooks etc. The other side represented my sterile life as a professionally image-conscious university English tutor - briefcase, black suit, mirror and an iron & ironing board.
You can watch the short video of the performance. It may take some time to download.

Portrait of a foreign artist in Korea

The performance started with me zipped up inside a suitcase along with an alarm clock. When the alarm rang I emerged, made a brief visit to the "creative" side of my room and played some flute music.Then as the alarm rang again I reluctantly crossed to the other side to iron my work clothes.







After preparing for "work" I presented an impromptu English lesson to the Korean audience - the topic was "time is money".
I pasted a 10,000 won note to the wall, making a visual equation out of the clock, an equals sign and the paper money.


After I succeeded in getting the audience to chant "time is money", I concluded the lesson.

Upon returning to the "creative" side I grabbed a pot of red paint and a brush and painted over the equation on the wall. There were gasps of shock from the audience as covered even the 10,000 won note in red paint! I then painted graffiti on the white wall of the gallery "ART IS LIFE!".

This was the beginning of my active art career in Korea, and within 2 weeks I had quit my dead-end job and found a position that was supportive of my art activities. Art does make a difference.